Death of a Lion
by The Ringbearer Galadriel
Summary: The day that Squall became Leon. Originally intended as a flashback in another story but scrapped. Now it's here for your viewing pleasure. Oneshot


**

* * *

****The Death of a Lion

* * *

**

You guys I am soooooooo sorry about the long wait. I just can't seem to put out much right now. College seems to sap away all of my creative energy. I was going to put this in LaMDM, but I thought this made it too serious. I'm trying to keep that one really lighthearted. Bah, I'm just too angsty right now. So in all fairness I just had to give this to y'all. ENJOY!

LaterzGala

* * *

Squall beat down three more heartless and ran to join the small group of civilians that one of his friends was defending. A tall blond woman with an intimidating whip smiled slightly for a moment when she saw him. "Pay attention to your left side Squall, the smarter ones will exploit your weaknesses if you don't watch out." Squall chuckled, "I can always count on you Quistis to try and teach me even in crisis situations." 

"Always a pleasure Squall. Now come help me get these people to the flight bay." Squall mock saluted her and brought up the rear of the small entourage. When they reached the bay there was already a small scale war going on. Quistis yelled at him to guard the group until the bay was clear.

Squall easily defeated any heartless that tried to attack the group of small children and women. The heartless were nearly gone when a huge black cloud appeared in the center of the room. Hundreds of shadow heartless poured from it and began to decimate the Bastion's soldiers.

At that moment a giant blue shield surrounded the few survivors and a large fiery cross ripped through the crowd of heartless vaporizing many. A slim girl with dark hair dressed in blue, along with a blonde man with startling green eyes rushed over to the struggling group. The blonde haired man ran to fight beside Quistis and the girl ran to Squall.

"Rinoa! What are you doing still here! You're going to get hurt" Rinoa smiled gently as she started healing the injured people huddled together behind Squall. "Squall you know I couldn't leave you or these people. I can't stand by and watch another world die without doing something about it. Besides I couldn't let Seifer come all the way down here without backup, you know how bad he is at casting healing spells."

Her comment drew an indignant reply from the blonde haired man, "Hey, don't you two go talking behind my back! I'm gonna make sure that you live to regret those words." Quistis flicked her whip at him gently, "Seifer you can argue later...let's get these people out of here."

All four of them quickly loaded the people onto the remaining intact ships. But before they could get on, the ground began to shake violently. The ceiling started to crumble, they all watched in horror as huge chunks of the stone ceiling began to fall...heading right for the ships loaded with people!

Rinoa staggered over next to the ships and thrust her arms up, blue energy shot out from her palms and began to slowly push the boulders upward. "Squall!...get...get the ships...going. I ca-...can't hold them much longer..." Squall and Seifer managed to make it across the lurching floor to the ships. They managed to close the hatches and watched the ships as they sped off.

The shaking intensified and Squall fell backwards and slid headfirst into the wall of the gummi bay. The last things he remembered was seeing Rinoa, still smiling, as she lowered her arms and the blue light surrounded him, seemingly cradling him as he slowly slipped from the conscious world.

The next thing he knew he was in a strange place that vaguely resembled a hospital. His memories were mostly blurs and muffled sounds. It was only a day later that they told him what had happened, even then he could not handle it. The rocks that Rinoa had held aloft for so long had come crashing down on her. They said her death was instant. No pain at all, as if to comfort him.

When he became calm enough after hearing about Rinoa's death. He asked them about his other friends, Seifer and Quistis. A large number of heartless had appeared after the ships had taken off. They had protected him at the cost of their own lives. At that moment Squall felt himself die. He was too weak to save Rinoa, not only her but Quistis his devoted teacher and Seifer his arch-rival turned friend. Everyone was shocked when Quistis and Seifer showed up one day holding hands and wearing wedding rings. They had both completed each other. Two imperfect lives joined to create a beautiful union.

But now, all that was in the past. They were all dead, all dead because of him. With grim resolve a new strength and wall of ice grew around Squall's true self. Squall Leonhart was no more.

* * *

Blah...I had a better ending in mind but I wanted the focus to be more on Rinoa instead of Quistis and Seifer. 

p.s. I nearly died writing this...I hate Rinoa, why in the world did I write this about her? I have no earthly idea. Oh well, ciao!

LaterzGala


End file.
